Wednesday, December 3, 2014

I absolutely loved the Star Wars Vintage Collection figures that
Hasbro released a few years ago. They were a perfect combination of
awesome, well accessorized Star Wars figures in very nostalgic, vintage
styled packaging. While that line sort of just disappeared (with later
releases harder to find than Bigfoot), K-Mart has continued to offer
some excellent Vintage Collection exclusives. Around Christmas I found
both of the exclusives I was looking for: the Death Star Scanning Crew
and the Imperial Scanning Crew. While both sets are designed to
complement one another, today I'm specifically looking at the Imperial
Scanning Crew. Based on the scene in Episode IV: A New Hope where
the Millennium Falcon gets captured by the Death Star's tractor beam
and the Empire sends a scanning crew into the ship to search for Han
Solo and company, the Imperial Scanning Crew offers one of the
two Imperial Technicians and one of the Stormtrooper's that stands guard
outside of the ship, Stormtrooper TK-421. While I was excited to get
this set because of the scanning crew (it's been one of those sets that
has been floating around for a long time without a scheduled
release), it was the fact that this set actually came with a
Stormtrooper named TK-421 that send me into complete nerd nirvana. That
is just such a cool detail! Ready to take a look at these two loyal
Imperial troopers? Then join me after the break...

Unlike some of the mid-90's and early 2000's Star Wars figures,
these guys really are 3 3/4 inches tall. The Imperial Technician is
right on the money while TK-421 is a little taller (more like 3 7/8ths).
Neither of these guys are completely new figures and instead are based
on older figures. The Imperial Technician is based on the Imperial Scanning Crew figure from 2009's The Legacy Collection while TK-421 is based on the body from the Shadow Stormtrooper from 2006's The Saga Collection. Both
of these guys come in a very cool vintage inspired box. It isn't a
window box, however, as both figures and the top half of the scanning
box are floating around in the box in plastic bags.

TK-421 features: swivel/hinge ankles, swivel/hinge knees, swivel
hips, a swivel/hinge abdomen, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/ hinge
elbows, swivel wrists, and a ball jointed head. Really, the only problem
I have with these guys is the lack of swivel/hinge or ball jointed
hips. Otherwise, while newer figures have definitely upped the range of
motion, these guys are still pretty well articulated and sturdy. The
heads have a really great range of motion, which I love.

The Imperial Technician has a pretty simple costume, but that
doesn't mean that Hasbro didn't bring their A-game when sculpting it.
His gray jumpsuit looks fantastic (some people suggest the film outfits
were repurposed old racing suits). It's covered with pockets and seams
and has some wonderfully realistic wrinkles and creases in it. Sometimes
you don't see sculpting this impressive in figures twice this size.
There are even tools in his left shoulder pocket and a minute little
com-link on his left wrist. The head sculpt looks a fair bit like one of
the two technicians from the film and wears the distinctive black
Imperial cap. The only detail that seems to be not screen accurate is
that this guy has a holster on his right hip. Of course, it's tough to
tell if he is or isn't wearing one on screen but honestly, this is a
detail I'll definitely overlook. I like my toys armed.

The paint is OK overall, but there are a few problems that I'll
mention. First, the hinge on his ankles is not painted or molded in
black like his boots, but is instead the same gray as his outfit. This
is one of those minor things that just doesn't look good. The second
flaw is the Imperial insignia on the shoulders. These look to be really
nicely detailed, but the paint seems to be very smudged on both sides
(although the left is worse than the right). Still, there are some nice
elements such as the silver paint applications on his miniature tools
and the work on the communicator. It's incredibly tiny but looks very
screen accurate with five different colors on a square that's only about
1/4 of a millimeter wide.

I'm not going to go through every detail of TK-421's armor but it
seems to be pretty accurate for an older mold. The shape of the helmet
might be off a bit but it isn't a deal-breaker or anything. The detail
on the armor plates and the visible bodysuit underneath looks fantastic,
but it's really the new utility belt that's the draw here. The
grappling hook unit is visible on the rear right and the holster is
hanging on the rear left hip. There's also a tiny clip. What's that for?
TK-421 here comes with a removable C-1 personal comlink. That is an incredibly cool accessory and I'll cover it a bit more when I get down to accessories.

The paint looks good with decent separation between the black
padding and the white armor, although I must point out that there are
some inexplicable black smudges on various parts of the armor. There are
also some paint issues in the hinges where the black paint seems to
easily flake away, exposing the white plastic underneath.

While the figures are cool, the biggest draw of this set has to be
the top half of the scanning equipment box that was used by scanning
crew BT-445. The top half of the box fits seamlessly on the lower half
that comes with the Death Star Scanning Crew set to give you the full
scanning experience. The exterior of the box is simple but looks to be
incredibly film accurate. It has two built in handles and some clean
paint applications on the removable lid. Inside, the detail is
incredibly impressive. The computer equipment is well detailed and there
are two removable parts: a scanning remote and the scanner itself. The
remote is a small silver device that rests in a small tray while the
scanner is a larger unit that can attach to the box via a small cord. It
features quite a few different paint applications and looks great.
Hasbro really delivered with this piece.

Each trooper in the set comes with his own accessories, too. The
Imperial Technician comes with a basic BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle that
can slip right into his holster. It's molded in grey plastic and is an
older version of the weapon. Stormtrooper TK-421 comes with two
accessories: An E-11 with a folding stock and the C-1 personal comlink.
The E-11 blaster rifle is very well detailed and molded in black
plastic. It has a working two piece folding stock. Unfortunately, unless
you remove the stock, it will not fit in TK-421's holster. The Comlink
is a tiny little white cylinder that clips onto his utility belt. Be
careful you don't lose this piece!

When considering that this set is a retailer exclusive that comes
with two figures, the top half of the scanning box, and some really nice
accessories all for around $17-18 dollars, I think it's quite a nice
purchase. It's been tough for fans of the classic 1/18th Star Wars
figures to find too much to be excited lately, so having Hasbro and
K-Mart throw us a bone with more vintage style exclusives is always
welcome. Imperials are always fun (no matter how many you already have)
and even though you really need both sets to really create the full
scanning crew, I think most fans and collectors will happily oblige.
While I do wish Hasbro had used some newer molds that gave these guys
better hip articulation, overall I'm quite happy with the set. I'm
giving this set a Great and a 1/2, as it really is a treat for fans of
the Original Trilogy.